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Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Is Alcohol Ruining Your Diet?

If you like a glass of wine after dinner or have regular nights out which include downing a few too many, then you may find it hard to lose weight. In fact, people who regularly indulge in alcohol, often gain weight.

According to the alcohol awareness charity, Drinkaware, two out of three Britons have no idea how many calories they’re drinking. Many people who embark on a diet, often neglect to include their drinks when they’re counting calories. And unfortunately, many alcoholic drinks are loaded with calories. Did you know that each unit or gram of alcohol has 7 calories? This is almost the same as pure fat which has 9 calories per gram.

From a survey of 2,000 UK adults, one in three were intending to monitor their calorie intake over the coming month, but only one in ten of those planned to count the calories in their alcohol as well. Unless they’re compensating for the calories in alcohol by drinking instead of eating, then many of these drinkers are likely to find it hard getting rid of their excess weight.

When we go on a diet, many of us swap from sugary drinks to the ‘no added sugar’ or ‘diet’ varieties. This is because sugar contains lots of empty calories, meaning they don’t contribute anything nutritionally, just calories. But alcohol is also high in sugar.

For example, one glass of wine has around 135 calories, the same as a regular packet of crisps. Or one pint of beer or lager clocks in at just under 200 calories. You could eat a sugar coated donut for a similar number of calories.

So if you’re on a diet and you like the odd tipple now and again, don’t forget to include the calories in your daily totals. And when you’re drinking, try getting into the habit of alternating alcoholic beverages with water or diet drinks. Don’t let alcohol ruin your diet!